In a following system, a mobile robot may follow a human such as a soldier or a vehicle via autonomous driving. The following system may be a global positioning system (GPS) type or a camera type.
In a GPS type following system, a mobile robot acquires a following path according to GPS information of a moving object. In such a following system, an appropriate following path may be obtained only when the GPS has high accuracy. Hereinafter, the appropriate following path denotes a path along which a mobile robot may avoid obstacles and at the same time may follow a moving object via the shortest distance.
Therefore, according to the GPS type following system, the appropriate following path may not be obtained in an area where the GPS has low accuracy.
In addition, a camera type following system has also been used, and in the camera type following system, a camera for observing a scene in front of a mobile robot is provided on the mobile robot and images from the camera are analyzed to acquire a following path. In this following system, an appropriate following path may be obtained even in an area where a GPS has low accuracy, but following problems may occur.
First, the mobile robot does not know about a circumstance in front of the moving object, and thus, an optimal following path may not be obtained in a long-term perspective.
Second, if the camera of the mobile robot may not capture images of the moving object due to a long distance between the moving object and the mobile robot, the mobile robot may not be able to acquire the following path.
Third, if captured images have low visibility at night or in a dark place, the mobile robot may not obtain an appropriate following path because the mobile robot may not recognize an obstacle in front of it.
The information in the background art described above was obtained by the inventors for the purpose of developing the present disclosure or was obtained during the process of developing the present disclosure. As such, it is to be appreciated that this information did not necessarily belong in the public domain before the patent filing date of the present disclosure.